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My Invisalign Journey (aka my 2nd time around with braces)

As a teen, I had metal braces back in the early 80s. I endured the headaches & pain of a palate expander. Had to endure the torture of head gear for my cross bite. And faithfully wore my retainer until my late 20s. Flash forward to now and my teeth have returned to their former, crooked positions. One of my "fangs" even came back...ugh! But worse, my cross bite came back.

So, I had a decision to make: do I go for round 2 with metal? Ceramics? Damon braces? Or should I try Invisalign? I thought there was no way Invisalign was going to be able to fix my case, but I readily found that I was a suitable candidate. As an adult, there was just no way I wanted to endure having a metal mouth yet again. (Haven't I been tortured enough and paid my dues? LOL) I found a wonderful orthodontist who specializes in Invisalign.

I haven't been able to post an update since Tray 15. There has been so much going on at home. Unfortunately, my father-in-law passed away. He was taken to the emergency room with heart failure right after I posted my last blog post. He was in the hospital for 2 weeks, but there was nothing further they could do for him, so he was sent to hospice. He made a wonderful rebound while he was there and had more energy than I've seen him have in months, which was wonderful. We got to spend a great
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Went to my 6 week ortho check up and got trays 14, 15 & 16. Getting closer to the end of the initial treatment round. I have 24 trays but the last 3 are all over-correction trays, so we're more than likely moving to refinements once Tray 21 is done. My ortho said my teeth are tracking along perfect and he's happy with how my arches are widening, especially my lower arch.

Well, I switched to Tray 13 last night. I'm happy to report that Tray 12 did NOT crack...YAY! First time since Tray 7 that I didn't get a crack between my canine & premolar. I think (as you'll see from the pic) that since my canine has started to move down in to position, it's not putting so much pressure in that area anymore.

I finally got off my lazy rear end and scanned in my "before" photo from the ortho. I'm completely embarrassed about how awful my teeth look.
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I'm finally starting to see progress on my lower teeth. This tray set also has 2 power ridges. One is on my lower right tooth (the one that sticks out), which is pushing it backwards in to place. The other is behind my upper left, which is pushing it forward. That upper tooth has moved further and further behind
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Well, it's gonna happen: I'm slated to get elastics down the road. My ortho just confirmed with me today. I asked about the precision cuts on my lower trays and asked him if it meant I was getting elastics. He said that he had planned for elastics just in case my canines weren't moving the way he liked. So far, they're tracking well. However, he said once my trays have pushed my teeth out far enough to make room, we're using the elastics to help pull the canines in line.

I just realized I forgot to upload a photo of Tray 10! For some reason, my teeth look really yellow in this pic...eeek! They don't look this bad in real life. Maybe my lighting was bad. Any how, I'm definitely getting whitening done when my treatment is complete.

On a happy note, after my last post, I'm glad to report that I'm getting my sense of taste back. I was really getting worried. I went almost 2 weeks with no taste whatsoever. It is AWFUL to have food in your mouth
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Ugh! What a week it's been. I'm currently on day 11 of tray 9. I've had problems in the past with my aligner cracking between the canine "fang" and the 1st premolar on the left side. Last night, not only did the aligner crack there, it also cracked in the middle of the attachment bubble on my front left tooth. It split from the bubble all the way to the top of the aligner. This means there's nothing pushing that incisor to the left and I can definitely notice it feels like nothing
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Switched to Tray 9 after dinner tonight. Yay! The LAST of the single digits...woo hoo!!!

This set was much easier to get on than Tray 8 was, so I feel good that things are tracking well. It makes me feel better because Tray 8 lowers were very difficult to get on the first day. I'm happy to report that my "fang" is much less fang-y now. It's finally being pulled down (extruded?) into a less noticeable position. It's also been pushed in a little, so it
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Went to the ortho for my 6 week check up. Picked up trays 8, 9 & 10. We had some trouble getting the lower tray on. It fit on one side, but would not go over my molars on the right side. My ortho had to pry them off my teeth with a metal pick, they were on so tight. Once he got them off, he tried seating them starting from the right first and then they popped right on...whew!

Just wanted to celebrate...I was accepted into nursing school!!! I'm thrilled beyond belief. I applied to a very competitive program and was selected as one of the 32 out of over 750 applicants. YAY!!!! I've been working so hard towards this goal and now the journey begins

Going to see the ortho on Wednesday to pick up trays 8, 9 & 10. Hoping my upper left canine isn't having tracking issues. Last tray was very difficult to put in and there's another crack
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Tray 6 was such an easy tray. No problem going on, no problem taking off. Just an easy comfortable time. Boy, do I miss Tray 6! Tray 7 was very difficult to put on. This tray is starting to move my jacked up left canine (upper) and, man-oh-man, do I feel it!!! The only way I could get the tray on was to bite on a chewie. It finally clicked into place (after feeling like my attachments were going to rip off). Lower tray was a piece of cake, thankfully!

I switched to Tray 6 last night....yay! This set of trays was not nearly as tight feeling as Tray 5 was. I can really tell how much movement I've had on my front left teeth. I know I could FEEL it...LOL :-) Still hoping to see some improvement on the lower teeth. However, they're so overcrowded, it will probably be quite some time before my back teeth are moved out of the way so they can shift.

I've been wearing Tray 6 for 15 hours, so I'm off to wrestle them out of my mouth.
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For those of you who read the forums, you know I've had a crack in my aligners between my canine and the pre-molar on the left side. Tray 3 had a slight 1-2mm crack in the "seam" between these 2 teeth. Tray 4 cracked on Monday with a much bigger tear. It went nearly all the way to the bottom of the tray. I had an appt. scheduled for Thursday to get trays 5, 6 & 7 so I had no new set to switch to when the crack occurred. Luckily, they squeezed me in today and I was able to switch
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OK, I finally had some time to take a pic with Tray 4 in. This set feels as if my teeth are being pushed outward to make room. By far, this has been the easiest tray to take off/on with attachments. I hope the rest are this easy!!! :)

Since I have to work the 4 AM shift at the hospital tomorrow, I have already put Tray 4 in. That way, I'll get the 10 to 12 hours my ortho wants before taking them off for the first time. I tell ya...this set of trays feels so different from my previous ones. I have the distinct sensation of all my teeth being pushed outward. I know this is one of the aims of my treatment, to widen my smile and relieve overcrowding. But I've not had the "push out" feeling before. It's definitely
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